Improvement in car-couplings



Patented Aug. 19, 1862.

' ported and guided intothe out requiring the aid cars as they approacheach other.

' tion', Iwill-proceed which I have carried it out.

"draw-bars B B, and attached tube; as applied todrawbars .which, and holding'the link M, ispressed into UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE,

srIL'LMAN THOR'P, OF TURNER, MAINE.

lMPROVEMENT IN CAR-COUPLINGS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent N 0. 36,247, dated To all whom it'ntwy concern:

Be it known that I, STILLMAN Tuonr, of Turner, in the county of Androscoggin and State of Maine, have invented a new, useful,

and Improved Method of Self-Coupling Cars; and I do hereby declare that the'following is a full and exact description thereof, reference being bad to the accompanying drawing, and to the figure and letters of reference marked thereon.

flhe figure isa view of the platform of two adjacent cars having my improvement attached. The, danger-towhich operatives upon railroads are exposed of being jammed between the cars when engaged in coupling them to gether renders some efficient method of guidiu'g the couplinglink into the buffer-head or spring draw-ban-w'ithoutthe necessityof tak ing hold of t,he 1'i'nk by the hand exceedingly desirable. For-this purpose I have invented theibllowing'simple and mechanicalmeans, .towit: a chambered box or tube to hold the link, and which is made to slide into and out [,To enable others In the accompanyingdrawing. A A are the adjacent platform-cars to be-coupled together, and B B the spring draw barsattached thereto. 0 0 representthe buffers as'detached from v to D, my invention consisting of a sliding chambered box-or B B, one of the draw-bar 13 to its shoulder and shackled thereto,-and the other box, D, partly drawn. from the opposite draw-bar, B,

- z is the coupling-pin, shown in elevation and.

restlng upon box D, ready to fall and eiiectnally connectthe cars as soon as the bufiersef coupling-pin i,

Witnesses:

August 19,1862.

the two adjacent and pressed together. v

P shows the coupling-pin slot. R shows my invention complete with the buffer 0 attached thereto. Q E is a sectional view showing half of the approaching cars are same with its inner construction, and n is the chamber in which one end of the linkv M lis placed prior to shack-ling the cars. This chem-- ber holds and directs the link' M intoth mouth of the opposite draw-bar when the two approaching cars A A meet.

X is a slot back of the chamber through which to pass a moving pin, if required, to prevent the tube I) from falling out of drawbar B when unshackle Some of the advantages in'myinvention are as follows, to wit: First, itwill cost no'mor''. newly made than do eomrnondraw-bars';see end, on repairs it will be-less expensive, for

time, and labor will be saved by removing the broken and inserting a new box; third, a car having my invention attached works in connection with another having the 'comr'non draw-bar, attached with by its use money,

equal facility; fourth, it can be applied to both ends of the cars, andthereby operate in every respect, like the draw-bars in common a self-coupler, and therefore, being. a self car-coupling invention and a savving of labor, time, money, life, and limbstitf callsj loudly for railroad corporations to ring;

courageits general use; sixth, it can be ap plied to a cappedwrought-iron bar as well'as to a'flaring draw-bar,

I do notclaim leader 0; but

What I do claim, and desire'to secure Letters Patent, isv J .v The chambered sliding box or tube D, attached to bufl'er'O, applied *to and operating iii-connection 'with draw-bar B, link M, and

thepurpose specified.

STILLMAN THORP.

GEO. W; Tunivnn, WESLEY THoRP,

substantially as 'set' forth, for 

